Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has suspended its operations in Florida after the state's designation of its Florida chapter as a domestic terrorist organization took effect.

The move came after U.S. District Judge Allen C. Winsor of the Northern District of Florida rejected CAIR's emergency request to block the designation.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who won reelection Tuesday over Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, confirmed the news on social media Thursday, the day the designation took effect. He called the ruling a "great win by our Solicitor General's office and for the people of Florida."

Gov. Ron DeSantis also celebrated, calling it a "good win" and adding, "Florida is holding CAIR accountable."

DeSantis and other members of the Florida Cabinet have long maintained that CAIR has ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Last year, DeSantis signed an executive order labeling CAIR and CAIR Florida as terrorist organizations, cutting them off from public contracts, funding and benefits from state and local agencies.

CAIR blamed the governor for the shutdown. "We have suspended our operations in Florida because of Governor DeSantis and other state officials' baseless and unconstitutional enforcement of the state's unprecedented new 'domestic terrorist organization' laws against us," the group said. It said the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other partners are representing it in a federal lawsuit on First Amendment and due process grounds.

The ACLU vowed to fight on. "Today's ruling is deeply disappointing and we are appealing it," said Ashley Gorski, senior counsel with the ACLU National Security Project. "We cannot allow this dangerous and sweeping censorship regime to stand."

Founded in Washington in 1994 by Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad, CAIR describes itself as working to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights and empower American Muslims. It has chapters in more than 20 states.